Last year, I was invited to take part in two international panels, one online and one face to face. The online panel was organized through CWM in the Caribbean and Europe Regions and was based in Jamaica. The theme was Gender Justice, a real issue in both parts of the world. The face-to-face panel took place at the conference of the Hymn Society of USA and Canada (HSUSC), a very lively organization, with global participation. We were looking at the legacies of colonialism and enslavement, particularly as reflected in the worship of churches around the world.
I found myself, in both places, as I often do, arguing for the powerful energy of holy rage against the injustices we see around us. The Louise Casey review of the Met, published a couple of days ago, revealed horrifying abuses arising from deeply entrenched attitudes, has the right to rouse us to anger. But we know that the issues are not confined to a particular police force. They are reflected in all of life, domestic abuse to global conflict.
John Bell and Graham Maule picked up this notion of holy rage in their hymn: ‘Jesus Christ is waiting’. The second verse will form the prayer at the end of this reflection. Pray with care!
We don’t have to look far to find holy prophetic rage in scripture. In fact, there is a very specific invective against vacuous worship that fails to address inequalities and injustices. The most powerful example is in Amos 5:21-4
21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
. . .
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
The language is passionate and violent: ‘I hate . . . despise . . .’. You may have heard me use this as a reading in worship from time to time. I sometimes invite the congregation to play the role of the hostile crowd listening to the prophet - to hiss and boo, and try to shout down the speaker, so that the prophetic voice has to be raised above the crowd, and the force of the language comes through.
Jesus speaks from the same prophetic tradition when he rages against empty ritual. The most obvious instance is the driving out of the moneychangers in the Temple (e.g. Mark 11:15-19), but the same energy runs like wildfire through his brilliant, sustained attack on the religious professionals in Matthew 23 – go and read it! – or in stories such as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), where it is the holier-than-thou priest and Levite who walk by on the other side.
Rage can be terribly destructive, but it can also release huge amounts of energy for good. Above all, we see that prophetic rage is part of a Christian response to the world in which we live. The call of Jesus and the prophets is to turn all that energy into action: ‘Let justice flow down . . .’; ‘Who do you think was neighbour . . .’ ‘The one who showed him mercy’ . . . ‘Go and do likewise’. (Amos 5:24, Luke 10:36-37).
Jesus Christ is raging,
raging in the streets,
where injustice spirals,
and real hope retreats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I am angry too.
In the Kingdom’s causes,
let me rage with you.
Janet Wootton
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